Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), the UK export credit agency, today announced that its fixed-rate export finance (FREF) scheme will close on 31 March 2011 at the latest.

The decision to close the scheme follows a public consultation. The final government response to that consultation was posted on ECGD’s website.

The scheme will close on 31 March 2011, unless its budget is used up before that date.

The closure decision is consistent with the government’s long-standing aim of abolishing the scheme. The current scheme has been little used, and its closure should have minimal impact on UK exporter competitiveness.